#Trek4Mandela
Tomorrow marks the sixth anniversary of the launch of Nelson Mandela Day. The day was launched in honour of Nelson Mandela’s birthday celebrating his life a legacy. The day which is recognised internationally was launched by the UN following a call Nelson Mandela make for the next generation to take on the burden of leadership in addressing the worlds social injustices.
Nelson Mandela day is founded on the notion that “each individual has the ability and the responsibility to change the world for the better,” and everyone is encouraged to donate 67 minutes of their time toward serving selflessly in the areas of food security, education and literacy, shelter and infrastructure, and service and volunteerism.
There are various initiatives taking place throughout the world from Shortstraw’s Mandelapalooza to Sandton Sports Clubs Annual Potjie and Family Festival. You don’t even have to take part in any fancy initiatives but I’ve decided to highlight an initiative which caught my eye.
Trek4Mandela is an expedition to create awareness on the plight of underprivileged girls in rural and poor schools during their menstrual cycles. The initiative sees a group of leaders and celebrities take on an expedition to climb Mount Kilimanjaro to create awareness and support Caring4Girls which is an initiative that supports needy girls with sanitary towels and puberty and adolescence dialogues, with research showing that a girl could miss up to 50 days of school per year due to menstrual challenges.
Maya Makanjee, from Vodacom who also sits on the board of the Nelson Mandela Foundation, believes that as a woman in a leadership position, it’s important for her to show support for what these girls are going through and help to keep them in school. Maya is taking part in the Trek and you can follow her journey on Twitter.
Climbing Kilimanjaro is no easy task so we at The Fuss thought of the only we know to support the cause – through music. We decided to create a playlist of inspirational songs the climbers can listen to to get them through the expedition. Listen below and let us know if there are any tracks missing from our playlist.
You can also contribute to the initiative from the comfort of your home. All you need to do is SMS “Maya” to 42 513 to pledge R30 to the #Trek4Mandela initiative with all proceeds going to Caring4Girls programme.
Click here for more information about #Trek4Mandela.
